In the second episode of Season 3B, Emma grows certain that someone in Storybrooke is responsible for the new curse that sapped everyone of their memories of the past year. She thus teams up with Regina to uncover the perpetrator’s identity. (On a possibly related note, I can now confirm that the Wicked Witch’s Storybrooke alter ego, Zelena, is — yikes — a “kindly” midwife. Careful, preggo Snow!)

Belle’s smart enough to know a long dress is going to get all muddy? A little bit of her Storybrooke time coming through (she always did favor fairly short skirts there)? It seems to be halfway between FTL and SB in length.

Have to say I enjoyed the first episode back. I didn’t really “watch” season 3 much. Hated the Neverland plot, but I already like this sort of soft reboot with a new curse, Henry not knowing, a year having passed, a new villain who hopefully isn’t related to anyone…I’m excited.

And I now this isn’t a popular opinion but I sort of hope Rumple stays dead. I’m just not sure where they can take the character and I’m much more interested in Regina in terms of a redemption arc.

I also wouldn’t mind if they got rid of Mumbles/Neal/Baelfire. Not that I’m a Hook/Emma hook up with fan(still wish they’d bring back the Woodsman, somehow…) but I really dislike Mumbles and Emma together. His character bores me and I feel they don’t have great chemistry.

I agree with you about Rumple. I hope he is dead, if no,t it kind of diminishes what happened at the end of the Neverland arc. But there is probably a small chance that he is dead. Belle already said in the last episode that she has a way of getting him back since his dagger wasn’t left behind.

Poor Regina, you can just tell she is going to have rough time adjusting to Henry not knowing the truth, don’t be a jerk, Emma,you kind of looked liked you doing something mean to Regina in that one pic. Now am I the only one who is wondering if Aurora and Phillip came to storybrooke this time around?

Don’t be ridiculous…. Aurora & Phillip aren’t important/connected to the Charming Mills family in some way…. So why would the writers bother with that? (Please note that I’m being sarcastic b/c the writers don’t seem to care about ‘secondary characters’ enough to do something like that.) I’ll be shocked/pleasantly surprised if they’re in SB.

Also I think they keep the actors out of it because they’re both busy with other projects…I doubt it has anything to do with “not caring”, and given that the Charming/Mills family is the uh…main characters on the show, I’d say that’s a good thing, no?

Aurora and Philip are hiding something that’s for sure (as seen in the first episode of season 3) I was more thinking that the babies would be connected to counter off Zelena and Regina’s power seeing that WW took Regina’s blood probably mixed it with hers and the two babies will be both be a product of true love… like Emma.

However I am curious to bee whether this time Aurora and Philip are in fact in SB

Between hers and Belle, it’s beyond over the top! Those poor actresses have to suffer the cold Canadian winter and tight, breathe restricting corsets. Hope they have penalty rates for this! Good thing they are trying to cover Ginnifer’s bump and she looks nice and warm.

Actually Lana sounds to be very involved with Regina’s wardrobe, at least according to the Something Wicked special. She wants it to show the state of Regina. I think it fits for her.` Belle, while I like it, I’m not so sure about haha.

It gets cold there. There are pictures of Jennifer and Colin walking through snow. And the cast has talked about having heating things tucked all over their outfits to keep warm. And there are pictures of the cast wearing HUGE coats when not filming. It may not get as cold as, say, the northeast of the USA/southeast of Canada (which is where I live). But if it’s 40F and you’re outside for several hours, you’re going to be cold.

This sounds like an amazing episode! Regina and Emma has long been one of my favorite dynamics on the show and Regina and Robin has a very good chance to become a favorite real quick. I like the idea of Regina and Robin going on the adventure to break into the castle and face the Wicked Witch together a lot. I’m also super happy Robin Hood’s adorable little son will be shown again. He’s the cutest and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’ll win over Regina’s heart before daddy does, lol.

Totally called that she’d be a midwife! And it will be pretty funny once Snow’s belly goes from a padded to look bigger belly to a real-life Ginny sized belly. I’m not quite sure why they didn’t just make Snow a few months pregnant but it’s probably because our RL time passes faster than the show’s timeline will. The episode wounds really good!

I guess the new curse also makes everyone believe that the Wicked Witch in her human identity was always in Storybrooke. Perhaps Snow White also believes they are friends. So the curse did more than just take their memory of the last year away. It gave them false memories like the old curse just not completely new identities.
Since the witch is a midwife her plan must be to steel the baby when it is born. That way the writers don’t have to deal with a new born baby and have Snow spend all her time at home being a new Mom.

Yes, because Snow, Charming and Emma would totally just sit back and be all “whatever” and not do anything if the WW stole the baby. Are you crazy? If anything the new Snowing baby gives the writers a good out if Ginny or Josh need to be home with theirs- just say that Snow/Charming are so exhausted that they’re back at the apartment taking a nap! Or the baby is sick or something.

I think you misunderstood what I said. The reason for having the witch steel the baby is so that Snow, Charming, Emma, Henry and whoever will be out and about trying to get the baby back unless they are cursed to forget they had a baby. I am sure the actors will be able to afford plenty of help with their new born if they want it to help from being too tired to act.

Just thinking…. re-read all the spoilers and comments from cast/writers… Zelena might not be related to Regina at all… Regina knows her for sure since in the promo she tells her you shouldn’t have left OZ, then Zelena says you really don’t know who I am… doesn’t necessarily mean she it telling Regina… could be anyone else.

I am glad to see Cutie Roland aww. I do look forward to how Robin and Regina will be around each other. These two will have to go on a journey on their own like Snowing and Hook/Emma did at the start to establish a connection and bond over something.
Really liked New york city serenade episode. The theme of home for the characters esp Emma. Its not the place its in the person. Emma is now ready for love and making trio out of her and Henry and someone which to me is Hook… the episode clearly set it up even further with Henry outlining Hook’s arc, even though he was talking of Walsh, it indicated to Hook! And that was clear as anything. Hook finds her!!!!
So Zelena wants the Snowing baby?

Henry is Regina’s son and will never belong to Hook. There will never be a trio where he’s more Hook’s child than Regina. You’re a CS fan above all else and that’s fine, but try to remember that this is show is about family and Henry is Regina’s son not Hook’s.

Zelena aka whatever name she goes by in Storybrooke touching Snow’s belly is really creepy…I have no idea where the storyline is headed S3B and I love it :)
I hope we remain relatively “unspoiled” as long as possible when it comes to what Zelena’s real motication is. It’s always so much fun to go back and rewatch the episodes wdetecting all those clues once the truth has been revealed (see Pan being Rumple’s dad).
Thanks Matt!! Always enjoy your Once scoop.

ps: it’s so weird writing a comment without one mention of Hook and/or Emma, so yay for those two after the amazing episode that was “NYC Serenade” :)